Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-02-24


how delicious to lay the weary bod
down, the head pillowed on old mothe
earth When did I ever sleep S
sweetly as on the ground, with m.
feet toward the campfire? Alb, tn
wildwood life for me!
One beautiful day in February, W hill
we were working in the sugar-camp
we heard peculiar noise, as of heav,
wind, and saw bright light. Looking
up, we saw large ball of fire, abou
as high in the air as Pilot Knob, goins
very swiftly, with great blaze of fir,
following in its train. 1t went in
north-w esterly direction. In few
days we heard that it had fallen neal
Cotoway; when it struck the ground i
exploded with loud report like {
heavy clap of thunder.
AS the days went by, we added IL
our S tock of "sweetening" till at the
end of the sugar season, we had bar
rel of grained sugar that my mother
stirred off, and was as nice as any cane
about one hundred pounds in cakes
and barrel of nice syrup. Oh, the
battercakes swe etened with syrup We
had after rthat-weren'tthey just splen-
did?
That same winter, while we were in
the sugar business, the United States
government removed the Che.oke ee
Indians from Georgia to the Indian
Reservation in Kansas. / rememb ber
in the month of February of that year,
a division of the Ross party came
through this valley and camped on the
Knob creek, extending from what is
now called the Half Way House u
along the west bank of the creek at the
foot of Shepherd mountain for nearly a
mile. 1t was just such muddy time
as we are having now. There were
about two thousand Indians in this
division. All the other divisions had
gone ty the way of Pennington, but
the roads were so bad the last division
had to come this way, and such road
as was the Fredericktown at that time!
4 few days before the Indians came, a
man was sent to find suita BILE camping
spots. supplies, &C., such as corn. oats
| and fodder for their teams, AS there
were so few people in the valley then
there was but ore man who had much
to spare. Mr.. Abram BuforG owned
the farm now called the Greason farm;
he had large crib Of old corn, oats and
fodder, which were to be delivered at
the place now owned by Judge Emer-
san. Mr.. Buf rss rsss-arr1Ff;ea RI father - send
me with team to haul oatsang fodder
while his team hauled corn. AS the
Indians came in they were furnished
with ratiohs by lodges, each lodge to
receive 50 much corn, so much oats, so
much fodder, after which they drove
into camp to the place assigned them.
They received no other rations at this
place; / think the hunters supplied
their own meat out of the woods. In
the morning, when they broke camp,
they were told how far they were to go,
and in what direction. The hunters
spread out like a fan, and started
through the woods towards the next
camping place, about ten miles ahead,
and swept everything before them in
the way of game. During the day deer
could be seen running as if the "Old
Scratch" was after them; running in
every direction, across fields and roads.
A bout four o'clock / had finished
hauling, and the Commissary Agent
asked me if | did not want to go and
see the Indians in camp; told me to let
one of those boys take my team home
and I go with him, and he would show
me how Indians live. When we reach
ed camp, we found the first lodge close
by what Is now the Half Way House.
AS each lodge comes in to camp they
go on beyond the first, and so on until
the last arrival is .the farthest in ad-
vance, and so the first to move on in
the morning. AS we came to each
lodge the officer in charge would ex-
plain everything to me. 1 saw the
family cooking supper, and I noticed
at each lodge they had felled large
tree, by the body of which they had
built their fire. On the butts of the
logs I saw square holes cut out that
would hold about four quarts, I should
think. The officer said, s'Do you see
that hole in that log?" eyes" do
YOU know what it is for?" "No."
"Well, that is their grist mill; they
shell some corn into that hole, ,and.take
that big FOUNDER you see there, and
pound the corn until it is fine enough
for bread; then they sift it and make
bread of it." But" said, sit takes
long time to make meal for large
family.' He told me to come, and
they would show me. So we went
along till we came TO squaw pound
ing corn, and we watched her. She
soon dipped out the pounded corn into
the seive and sifted out the finest OF
the meal and put the rest back and
pounded it again; it did not take her
long to make enough meal for her
bread for all the lodge. AS we went
along the officer called my attention to
the girls dressed in silks and satins,
with their ears loaded with jewelry,
their hair done up in style. said,
"Wby, surely these are not Indians;
these are white ladiesw "Yes, those
are Indians; these negroes doing the